Archive

After a few dual-beer launches, this week we have only a single release hitting the virtual shelves of our online store and the taps of our BrewDog bars. But it is such a momentous beer, we don’t think you’ll mind. The arrival of a new Abstrakt is always cause for celebration – and as the series has now come of age with the twenty-first release, we have marked this by switching up the packaging!

We have been producing our boundary-pushing small-batch Abstrakt beers for six years now (where does the time go?) and each and every one of the previous twenty have had the familiar vertically labelled bottles topped with a black cork. As you may know, when things get familiar it makes us uncomfortable, so we felt it was high time to freshen up the outside whilst giving the beer on the inside even more of a chance to take centre stage.

And we have done exactly that with our latest, AB:21 – a liquorice blackcurrant imperial stout. This one-off brew harnesses the tart berry fruit and the bitter aniseed spice whilst layering it into a deep background of spiced chocolate from the malt bill. At 12% abv it yields a huge amount of warming alcohol on the finish, which is rich, rounded and moves from the darkly fruity to a lasting liquorice warmth as it progresses; it is one of the most complex beers we have ever made.

And on the outside? Well, we have switched up to brown glass bottles sealed with wax to help you age the beer for longer with less chance of light or oxygen affecting the beer (plus wax-dipped beers just look cool). At the same time, we figured it was a chance to give the bottles themselves a fresh look, so we have screen-printed them to continue to set the beers apart. The contents, of course, will always do that – pushing the boundaries of beer and our brewkit alike!

Abstrakt AB:21 is live in our online shop right now and will be released on draft across our network of UK BrewDog bars from 6pm tonight, Friday 23rd September. It will – of course – be followed by AB:22 which will follow the same new look. Let us know in the comments what you think of the beer – both visually and taste-wise!